Pieces of the mainsheet
traveller started exploding into little pieces one day while Holly and I were
sailing in 15+ knot winds with the rail almost in the water. Time for another
upgrade. A Harkin 4:1 ball bearing traveller was purchased and a new piece
of oak was contoured to fit the curves in the cockpit seats. The traveller
was mounted on the oak and fastened through the seats with aluminium plates for
backing. The oak was there only to make up for the uneven surface as the
traveller was self supporting when it came to bridging the two seats.

When the traveller was removed more rot was found on both
seats. (I don't think anything on the boat was ever re-bedded) The rot was
dug out and replaced with solid fibreglass with micro balloons.

RUDDER REPAIR

When painting the bottom in the
spring I noticed water coming from two areas on the starboard side of the
rudder. After drilling and removing the coring ( only a very small area
was cored and the rest was solid fibreglass) I saw the ends of the vertical
rudder post and the end of the horizontal post coming off the vertical post.
I am assuming the some stress was put on the rudder to flex it enough to push
the ends of the tubes on the fibreglass causing it to crack allowing water to
enter. The areas were cleaned and filled with WEST System epoxy and micro
balloons.

Solid life lines
to the first stanchion base. I am going to put netting around to
keep the dog from becoming shark bait. The line attached now is just for
planning the lifelines and is only temporary.